


Search and Rescue

by shir1095



Series: Uncle Jaime's Adventures [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Military, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Attempted rape off screen, Canon Disabled Character, Captivity, F/M, House Lannister, Hurt/Comfort, Jaime Lannister Needs a Hug, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, Past Cersei Lannister/Jaime Lannister, Serious Injuries, Tags May Change, Tywin Lannister's A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 20:00:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21674338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shir1095/pseuds/shir1095
Summary: This is the less fluffy companion to the first in the series, so be warned. Jaime finds himself in a tight spot. Tyrion has to deal with the fallout. Tywin is as formidable as usual and Brienne is as always the knight. please read notes for warning.
Relationships: Arthur Dayne & Jaime Lannister, Jaime Lannister & Brienne of Tarth, Jaime Lannister & Tyrion Lannister, Jaime Lannister & Tywin Lannister, Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth, Myrcella Baratheon & Jaime Lannister, Tommen Baratheon & Jaime Lannister
Series: Uncle Jaime's Adventures [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1562497
Comments: 12
Kudos: 42





	1. Search

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there!  
> First and foremost- thank you for reading.  
> A few warning, the first is that I didn't get my work Beta'd *yet* (The first one was just beta'd and updated) but it will be updated once it will be! (hopefuly soon) so that means this still contains my shitty grammer.  
> now to more accute warning- this work will talk about Jaime's time in captivity. The first part of it will feature an attempt rape but it is off screen and not described. also, the maiming, not described in too many words but whenever Jaime is envoled- his right hand exits the chat.  
> I'm still writing the rest of the fic so it will be uploaded once I'll finish it.  
> Braime will be focused on in the next chapter, but it is prominent there I promise.  
> Last warning is that I really don't know anything about US Military so I'm truly sorry if I hurt anybody's feeling.

Tyrion is having one of the worst hangovers he had in the last couple of years when he hears the doorbell rings. Normally nobody would ring his doorbell unwarranted, it was 8am on a Monday and if it weren’t for the hangover, Tyrion wouldn't even be at home in this hour. He walked slowly, trying not to flinch as the doorbell rang again. The hangover making it sound a thousand times louder inside his pounding head. had he forgotten to mention to Bronn that he's going to stay home today?

He opened the door and looked up at a man wearing blue army uniform, the same as his brother's.

Why whould- 

**No**.

He stumbles and leans against the door, feeling like the ground just opened. The man immediately helps him, holding his shoulders in order to steady him. He tries to take a few calming breaths. Breath!

"Shouldn’t there be a flag?" Tyrion asks, clenching his fist on the door handle he was still holding like a lifeline.

"Is my brother not worth Selmy's time so he sent his minions to do the job for him? I knew he didn't like him, but that’s a bit much." He can feel his voice shaking and he hates it, he hates the way his chest tightens and every muscle in his body has gone rigid. The man looks confused for a millisecond but then he holds his hand up in a surrender position, no longer formal.

"I'm sorry, this is not… Jaime is not-" Tyrion doesn’t hear the rest of the sentence as his heart pounds louder and louder in his chest and then "Mr. Lannister, Jaime is not dead."

"Is he hurt?"

"I… can I come in?" he hesitates, and Tyrion looks up to him with a dead stare and moves back inside, certain that the man would follow him back. He does, closing the door Tyrion hadn’t bother to shut.

"My name is Arthur Dayne, I'm-"

"You are in Jaime's unit" he completes. Since he joined team, recruited by Arthur himself, Jaime had sung that man praises, telling Tyrion how amazing he is. He was older, maybe 40 but he looked well, his head was still full of black hair, unregulated just like Jaime's. But his face looked ragged, not at all the perfect solider Jaime has described him. Tyrion doubted if he even slept.

"Something like that. I'm sorry I came here in uniform, I came straight from debrief and I didn’t want to pause for a change of clothes. The Commander isn’t here because… well because I'm not supposed to be here." He takes a deep breath. "I can't tell you any details about our mission but I'm sure you noticed Jaime left before his leave was over. Our team has been sent out, there was an ambush and Jaime were taken."

Jaime was deployed a month ago with a little more than a hasty goodbye. Tyrion knew it was unusual, Jaime explicitly asked for leave in order to be here for Tommen's 8th birthday.

"Is he dead?" he asks slowly but his common sense tells him that if Jaime was dead, he would be getting Selmy and a folded flag on his doorstep, not a sole solider.

"No, well we thought he was. There was a mess, he was hurt when they took him, there is no reason why he would be left alive. But we just got a video from whoever took him"

"How do you know it's not a scam?"

"The wounds we know he took during battle doesn’t look fresh, his beard has grown. They can't tell if he is still alive _right now_ , but they estimate it was filmed a few days ago" Dayne looks uncomfortable, like he is torn about saying something he shouldn't.

"They didn’t want to tell you yet, not until we will be able to confirm he is still alive now. But Jaime is like my little brother and I think you should know. You deserve to know what is going on."

"Did they ask for something?"

"Not yet but high brass think they will. They know who he is, they know who your father is."

"Of course." It always came back to their father. Even continents away, in the middle of the bloody desert, the shadow of Tywin Lannister never seize to exist.

"I'm going to do whatever it takes to bring him back, Mr. Lannister. I'll talk to the Commander, tell him to bring you all into the fold officially."

"Thank you, Captain. I appreciate you coming to me" he raised a hand to shake the older man's hand.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lannister. no one should wake up to this news." Tyrion finds out he truly believes him. Jaime didn’t have a lot of comrades. After Areys, Tywin was sure Jaime would crawl back to his arms after the shunning the young solider received from the high brass and fellow soldiers. But Dayne stayed, according to Jaime, and its no wonder Dayne looked pained to tell Tyrion he couldn’t get his brother home.

He brings Dayne his business card, scribbles his private phone number and asks him for an update before the man leaves.

He won't tell the Family anything until he would know for certain Jaime is still alive.

**

The call comes two weeks later, almost seven weeks since Jaime left his doorstep and hoped into a black jeep.

After the call that confirmed Jaime is still alive Tyrion feels like he can breathe again. It also means it's time to talk to his sister and father, not his preferred conversationalist at any given day. Dayne told him it was likely for the high brass to call father on Monday and get him inside the loop. He wasn’t so sure it would happen if Tywin weren’t who he is, former Vice President and the head of the largest corporation in the states. Their whole family was either in positions of power or sleeping with those with political influence.

Tommen's birthday was the perfect and worse place to deliver said news, but he needed father and the rest of the family to know before they will find out one way or the other. He arrived at the Lannister mansion in upstate New York, bearing gifts for his nephews, debating whether to get Jaime's out of the car or to hold to the fraction of hope he might be able to give Tommen the presents himself.

"Uncle Tyrion!" Tommen yelled after the maid opened the door and he was almost crushed to death by a over excited sugar-induced nephew. Someday soon he will outgrow him, just like Myrcella did when she was his age.

"Hello birthday boy!" he congratulated and hugged him. Over the blonde locks he found his father gaze. He needed to do it now, before the rest of the guests arrive, and it would be impolite and most importantly very noticeable to disappear.

"You have got to see what father gave me!" Tommen said, high pitched and excited. Knowing Robert, the man probably hired a circus, just so Cersei couldn’t blame him for child neglect.

"I'll be right outside, I'll put those in the pile where they belong" he mentioned the mountain of presents that started to stack on the big room to their left. No doubt a contribution from all the uncles and cousins that swarmed the place.

"No Uncle Jaime?" he asked, looking over Tyrion shoulder, like his big brother could ever hide in his shadow.

"They called him in, remember when mother told us?" Myrcella, ever the life saver came from around the corner and hugged Tyrion. "Come on Tommen, lets see if they managed to fill the inflatable castle!" Tommen seemingly forgot about his absent uncle and start to run outside.

"We need to talk, Cersei too." he said quietly to father as he unloaded the stack of presents on the big pile of the entertainment room. One set of green eyes pierced his gaze. "I'll call for her, wait in the study." The study, how he hated that damn room. He never recalled any good memories within these walls.

He walked slowly up the stairs and went straight for the crystal pitcher holding something strong enough for this conversation. His father didn’t look pleased to see him drinking but knew that soon enough he, too, would take a glass of the bourbon.

Cersei looked beautiful, as always, in a green cocktail dress and a glass of red wine. He always wondered how someone so beautiful on the outside could be so rotten within.

Better get this over quickly, like a plaster.

"I got a house call two weeks ago from Arthur Dayne, Jaime has been taken."

He can hear the glass shatter and the wrecking sob coming out of his big sister's mouth. His father clenching his jaw.

"How" he asks slowly.

"He couldn’t get into details, his superiors hadn’t deemed us worthy to know until they found out if the source was reliable, but Dayne called earlier today telling me they confirmed he's been taken as a hostage."

"How can they keep this from us, how can they keep this from you!" Cersei cried out.

"They are supposed to inform us formally tomorrow, I wanted you to know first."

"Why did he come to you, why not father?"

"I know it happened a long time ago, but Father disowned Jaime as you might rememb-"

"We need to set a strong front. I'll get Kevan here, we will talk strategy" Tywin cut him off, already messing with his phone.

"It's always so practical with you."

"Do you want me to whine? Do you want me to flip the table? Maybe call the President demanding they would scan under every rock in that bloody Deseret? Jaime knew the risks, he is not a boy anymore and he made his own choices."

"I want you to recognize the fact your _son_ has been taken, that he is injured and alone. He is not here to see that you actually _care_ , you can show some emotion!" He hoped Cersei would join him, but his sister is sitting on one of the chairs, holding her mouth. She is in shock, but he _needs_ her, Jaime needs her to be strong against their father. Tywin could demand things from high brass, Kevan was still a high ranking general, they can make things happen. Who knows how many weeks has passed since Jaime went MIA, and how much longer whomever took him planned to keep him alive?

"And what good would emotion bring me?" Tywin asks, his green eyes with quiet rage. Tyrion knew it would be the end of that discussion.

In the end, they don’t get to learn about Jaime's kidnapping from the security brief. Bronn approaches him just as he finishes a small talk with one of his more tolerable cousins and hands him a phone. "You need to see this."

It’s a video, and its grainy and Tyrion can feel the lump in his throat even before he touches the screen. A man in military issued undershirt and combat pants is sitting in front of the camera. His head staring down, looking at his boots. Someone is saying something, but he doesn’t respond. A man with big black braid comes to stand behind him, yanking his hair so that he faces the camera. Jaime. He stares ahead without any emotion in his eyes, his face doesn’t betray anything. That's his big brother, always resilient. His lip is swollen and there are cuts mearing his face. 

"We Have your solider, and your citizen. For now, they are safe. If you won't answer our demands, they will suffer" a man with heavy accent that isn’t filmed is talking. The screen turns black.

"where did you get this?" Tyrion asks, gritting his teeth.

"A friend from one of the news stations sent it to me, knowing it's the fastest way to get a comment from you. They are going to air it tonight."

"Do we comment?" Bronn asks but Tyrion is already walking towards their father who is talking with Uncle Kevan and his wife. He doesn’t say a thing for a minute, but then he hands the phone to Kevan with a glare.

Kevan watches the phone, slowly becoming pale. No doubt Tywin hadn’t bother to inform his siblings since Tyrion talked to him two hours ago. Kevan stares at the phone for another minute then he gets up and makes a call.

In less than three hours, the three of them enter a briefing room in DC.

Tywin is still calm and collected as he walks into the room. Cersei wasn’t allowed to come, in charge of making sure the children won't see anything. She pleaded father to let her come, that she could help with all the connections she made for her election campaign, but father hadn’t bother to listen. For how much Tywin say they are grown people, he sure did act like they were still children; telling them what they can and can't do, demanding obedience in exchange for life of comfort. Sometimes he could understand why his brother chose to stay with male-only group of people in the middle of nowhere instead of becoming Tywin's puppet. He knew that him being here was because Tywin couldn’t trust him not to search for other ways to acquire information. Tyrion was actually happy about his father not undermining his abilities like he always does.

Men in fancy uniforms enter the room, each one with different decoration that screams high brass. Dayne isn't there, this is probably too high for his paycheck, but Selmy is present. It was a known secret that Selmy didn’t like Jaime. He thought of him as a smear of black in his pristine elite soldiers. Jaime kept telling him how he thought he was too young, too reckless, too entitled. that his place wasn’t among the men who died to make sure his father and the rest of the pigs in DC would keep rolling in money. If he only knew that he almost helped the man he resented so much to force Jaime to quit from the force. Tyrion was glad for once that his dear brother followed blindly after the people he admired. It had worked well when in came to Arthur Dayne, it would end in disaster if he will keep following Cersei.

"Thank you for coming, Mr. Lannister."

"I don’t need your pleasantries, I need to know why I was informed through news leak that my son was taken." Straight to the point as per usual. Why be pleasant when you can put fear in other people?

"Sir, we are still investigating the source that leaked the footage-"

"I don’t care about the leak" its one of Tywin Lannister patented voices, the one that makes CEO quiver with fear. It shuts up the young solider.

"Mr. Lannister, we are sorry about the circumstances that led us here. We decided it was better to inform you once we had better knowledge about Jaime's whereabouts" Selmy speaks. He does a good job at keeping the disdain at bay. 

"And do you have that?"

"The video they published was the first we received, a few days after Jaime was taken. There was another one before confirming a news reporter was taken as well in another situation not too long ago. We received today another video, the date of the newspaper they held was for yesterday, claiming their terms."

Another video is shown on the screen. Jaime looks worse, his beard has grown and his hair became duller, the brilliant gold turned darker. The fresh cuts on his face from the first video are now fading, replaced by new ones that weren’t there. He looks thinner but his stare doesn’t weaver. An American hero, nothing less. The man reads a list of demands, but Tyrion's sole focus is on his brother's eyes. 

"I'm not going to sugar coat it Mr. Lannister, we cannot give them what they want. You were Vice President, you know our procedure for this kind of situati-"

" **They have my son!** " he roared, proving why they call him the old lion. Tyrion doesn’t remember the last time his father showed that much emotion. He can feel the rage echoing the room, making everyone uncomfortable. Good, they deserve to sit uneasy in their chairs while his big brother is out there, suffering.

"And we are going to do whatever we can to retrieve him, but we cannot give in to their demands."

"You raised a strong man, Mr. Lannister. He knew the risks, he trained for this scenario and he is resilient. He will survive until we can get to him" another white-haired man in a suit says.

Tyrion wishes, not for the first time, that he was as big as his brother just so he could shake that idiot, sitting in his ivory tower telling them all about how strong Jaime is like he knows him, like he _cares_. His father sneers.

"Tywin" Kevan says quietly, knowing his elder brother and trying to defuse what is to come but Tywin's stare shuts him up.

"My family has given a lot to this country, and we can _take_ a lot from this country. I, unlike those barbarians on the screen, am not one for idle threats. You are going to find him, and you are going to bring him home, alive. Is that understood?" Tywin doesn’t wait for an answer and turns around to leave. Tyrion and Kevan soon follows.

**

Tyrion never thought he would get to see his brother maimed on the internet.

It all started in the beginning of the eight-week mark. they uploaded the streams of Jaime and the young woman to a site or straight to Facebook. He doesn't think Jaime knew he was filmed. The angle was off, and his brother was talkative, talking to the young reporter, Pia. The streams were never long, only two minutes clips at a time, uploaded a few times a day. They were never live, probably due to wanting to keep their location a secret. They were goading all of US top agencies but somehow all the brightest men and women in this country couldn’t pinpoint the exact location his brother was held in.

Tyrion always had the site open on his desktop, refreshing and checking on his brother, holding to those fractions of moments. Sometimes Jaime laughed, telling jokes to the young woman to keep her smiling. She looked fragile, always sitting at the far corner of the cell they both shared. Jaime sitting next to her, sometimes holding her, always protecting her when the goons came and the video stopped.

In the two weeks that passed since the first video was uploaded, he saw his brother talk to her about his life, his family (only mentioning a brother and nephews. Never Cersei, never father), what kind of food he would order once he get out of there (that made Pia laugh and then cry).

She asked him in one of the videos if he had someone waiting for him back home.

"there is someone, but she doesn’t know how I feel." he wasn’t talking about Cersei, he could tell.

"You should tell her if we get out" Pia said and Jaime smiled.

"That the first thing I'm gonna do _when_ we get out. Then I'm gonna get a burger." It made Pia laugh.

Sometimes their conversations are more somber, Jaime holding her while she cries, telling her that she needs to be strong.

"If something happens, don’t resist. They will only hurt you further just for the joy of making you break. You need to go away inside, make the world around you disappear so nothing can hurt you."

How many times has his brother gone away inside in the weeks he has been missing?

"I promise you Pia, I'll do whatever I can to help you, but you cannot risk getting hurt farther. We need to get out Alive." She nods but Tyrion thinks she doesn’t believe it herself.

On the morning of the eleven weeks mark he was scrolling down his mails when he heard a strange ping. The only window that was open beside the mail was the page, and then he saw the new video on the screen. He clicked play and a scream pierced the entire room through the speakers.

"No, let go of her!" Jaime screamed, his face full of fresh blood. Pia screamed somewhere behind the camera. Jaime was held by two men while Pia still screamed.

"Leave her alone, she is a civilian. I'm the big American solider that came to hunt you rats out" he screamed, trying to fight his captors. His brother never lost his cool like this, always quick witted and with a sharp smile to accompany his barbs.

"Stop it you idiot" Tyrion muttered.

"Big men on one small lady, how strong you must be" he said between clenched teeth that were bloodied, probably from the previous beating.

"We can take whatever we want, Lannister. from whoever we want" the voice from the video said.

"All I hear is you talking big game" Jaime sneered, looking smugly at the man that was not on camera.

"You fucking idiot" Tyrion told the screen, like he could do anything to stop his brother's motor mouth from ever shutting up. Now is not the time to regress to your old ways, Jaime!

"Hold him." The rest of the men, probably holding Pia came into view, holding Jaime and keeping him grounded on the floor. One man stretched his arm while he can hear a metallic sound and then a blade appears on the screen, going down towards his right hand. The feed stops.

"No, no, no!" Tyrion screams and pushes the screen and the rest of his desk to the floor with one big swipe. He crashes to the floor, sitting between shreds of his coffee cup and the rest of the mess.

He doesn’t know how long he sits on his office floor, holding himself, when Bronn enter the room.

"I'm sorry" Bronn says, putting a hand on his shoulder. He doesn’t want remorse. He wants his big brother.

**

There was something different on the feed today, thirteen weeks since Jaime left. They hadn't released anything since _that_ video, and Tyrion didn’t even know if Jaime was still alive.

Bronn came into the room, unannounced and uninvited, going straight for the tv remote on the desk. He opened the flat screen on his office wall, turning to a news channel. "we are now getting what seems to be live streaming of the captive American solider, Jaime Lannister."

They were live, why were they live?

The video turned from black to the same room they recorded in all of their official messages. Jaime looked horrible, his skin looked grey and his eyes looked lifeless. Hair and beard dark and wild. Tyrion stared at the gap where his right hand was supposed to be. His arm was warped in dirty strip of clothing. The shirt looked so much bigger on him. He looked like he was half dead.

"Jaime…"

"We have tried to negotiate with the conquerors without success. If you want to live, Lannister, convince your government surrender to our terms. Tell your father to pay us for your head, and we will not harm your further" the same dreadful voice talks in his broken English. Jaime laughs trough half beaten face.

"The United States government doesn’t negotiate with terrorists. And if you thought my father will be your answers you are gravity mistaken. Sorry to disappoint but he doesn’t _care_. I was disowned years ago. All of your hopes and dreams about money goes to shit. You won't get a thing for me, I'm just a dead man walking" Jaime says, each syllable slowly, to make sure the man understands. "How does it feel to do all this job at keeping me alive just to learn now that you won't get a dime for your efforts?" he laughs again, and Tyrion clenches his fists. Stupid Jaime and his stupid jokes.

"In that case, I have not need for you any longer" the man says and points a gun at Jaime. Jaime looks straight at the camera, his eyes bright with emotion. "Brienne I-" and then an explosion and the feed went dead.

"Did they shoot him?!"

The anchor on the news seem distressed, trying to buy time while listening to his earpiece.

"We can now confirm that US special forces have arrived at the scene. We have yet to know if the operation to retrieve Lannister and the civilian reported was a success and we will wait for further news."

Tyrion can't move from his spot, still staring as the video of his brother's potential execution is rolled over and over again. His phone is ringing but he can't bring himself to get it from his desk.

"It's your father" Bronn says, handing him the phone.

Tyrion takes a deep breath, 'Lannisters must be strong' he hears rolls the mantra through his head, and takes the phone.

"They have him."


	2. and

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again and thank you for all your comments and kudos I promise I'll thank each and every one!  
> It's been really long couple of weeks that just won't end in school so i'm sorry I didnt update, and the next chapter would probably take just as long.  
> the chapter is... well I won't call it 100%, when I'll have more time I'll probably refine it but I wanted to give you what I have.  
> Still no beta, still all my mistakes.
> 
> This Chapter will get us the Briame fluff I promised, and also some Jaime&Tywin.  
> The next chapter will talk more about PTSD, this is like the calm before the storm

Gunshots, screaming, more gunshots.

Jaime's first thought is hurt, and then he opens his eyes only to stare at Arthur Dayne's indigo eyes looking down at him from behind a tactical mask. "You always were a dramatic bitch" he says coughing, looking at his gear. "Since when do we wear masks to search and rescue?"

"May I remind you that _I'm_ not the one in need of a rescue, princess" Arthur laughs, wiping the sweat from the brow on his shoulder. Jaime realizes his hands are too busy trying to keep him from bleeding out from his bullet wound.

"He shot me."

"Still sharp, I see. Your Amazon put a bullet through his skull, he won't hurt anyone ever again" Arthur says and Jaime lets himself one moment of panic to think about Brienne being in this hell. "Bri-" he tries but a cough takes the rest of his power, making his whole body shudder.

"Nope, we are definitely _not_ calling someone who should be securing the premises right now."

"Is Pia okay?" he tries to look over Arthur's shoulder, but the man put pressure on his middle body, preventing him from rising.

"She's okay, Jaime. You did good, kid" Arthur smiles even though Jaime can't see his mouth, but he can see the laugh line at the edge of the mask. Jaime smiles back at him or at least tries before it's all too much and he goes under.

***

Jaime opens his eyes with all the force that is still left in his body. Turning his head slowly to his left he can see Brienne, still in white undershirt and camouflage pants sleeping in the chair next to his bed.

He doesn’t know if he's already in a hospital back in the States but at least she is still here. He remembers he held her hand, clutching it even when the nurses told her in broken English she can't stay. " _Please_ " he pleaded, holding to her hand. He already lost a hand, he couldn’t lose her too. "I'll be here, Jaime, I promise. But you need to rest" she told him, and he closed his eyes, believing her. maybe they are back home, maybe still in one of those military hospitals in Europe but as long as she's here he knows he is safe.

"I dreamed about you, you know, back there. You were saving me" Jaime said, voice still raspy from sleep. Brienne eyes flung open and she stares at him with those beautiful eyes.

"It was a joint effort. Captain Dayne led the assault team, we were there to provide cover." Always quick to avoid recognition.

"No, I was in a cave, like a tomb. You were there with a glowing sword, protecting me" he insists. She can't hold a smile from spreading across her face.

"You are so high right now" she says as she caresses his hand.

"I wasn’t afraid to die, I just wanted it to be in the arms of the woman I love."

"Jaime." There is his stubborn wench. He doesn’t know what she resents more, him talking about dying or him talking about feelings.

"I love you. I know we didn’t spend a lot of time together outside of the base, and that you don’t need an old infamous soldier to dirty your pristine future, but you should know that" he says in the most earnest voice he can master. He can still see the doubt in her eyes, and he curses every fucking idiot that ever made her feel unlovable.

"I do know that" she says, cradling his face, her other hand moving the hair from his eyes.

"how could you tell?"

"You broke Connington's jaw, telling him you'll kill him if he ever spoke about me again. I think that’s a strong clue."

"I did do that" they both laugh, but it doesn’t escape his mind that she hadn’t returned the gesture. They stay silent, her still moving her fingers trough his hair, him caressing her hand near her pulse, reassuring himself she really is here.

"I kept thinking what I would do if it were you out there with me, if they were threatening to harm you. I'm not sorry I helped Pia, I'm not. But maybe if I didn’t-"

"Jaime, what you have done was so brave. Sometimes you do things so stupid and infuriating but that's not one of them. In the end you always make the right choice, even if it costs you everything, and that's why I love you."

For one moment he can't breathe but then a brilliant smile splits his face.

"You are such a dork" she can't help but smile. They were an odd couple, she knew. Even if they weren’t out of the closet back in base, only stealing a few moments between their obligations, she knew what everybody would think of them. even with his record he was the perfect man and she, well she wasn’t.

"A dork that you love" he says, still smirking. She kisses that smirk, still caressing his face. Never letting go of his hand.

***

"Uncle Jaime!" a loud shout and then forces colliding with the hospital bed. He opens his eyes to see two blonde blurbs staring at him. One minute later they focus, and he can see two intriguing gazes staring at Brienne.

"Who are you?" Tommen asks, eight years old and curious. Already eight, another birthday he missed.

"That’s Brienne" he says, staring at her like he was seeing her for the first time.

"My name is Brienne Tarth, I'm your Uncle's friend. Jaime, maybe I should lea-"

"Don't" he says with a plea, holding her hand in his good hand like a lifeline. He doesn’t miss the look his brother gives him, no doubt he will be grilled later for details.

"Nice to meet you, Brienne. I'm Myrcella and that's Tommen. And that’s Uncle Tyrion but you probably knew that." 

"Uncle Jaime you missed my birthday" Tommen says, pouting.

"sorry buddy, I'll make it up to you. Promise" he doesn’t have anything better to say. I'm sorry Tommen, something held me from staying with you, in particular a vindictive group of radical men who wanted to ransom me and then slaughter me in front of a livestream camera.

"you promised you'd be here!"

"I know. But guess what? Halloween is happening! We can have group costumes again. Myrcella will be Captain Marvel, you'll be Captain America and I'll be your Bucky" he said, waving his stump in the air, wincing. He only lowers it because of Brienne's scolding gaze, not because he was hurt. He was definitely not hurt.

"You do fit the part, the feral look does have an advantage" Tyrion points out. He can feel how dirty he is, maybe Brienne will agree to give him a sponge bath later.

"That's silly, Bucky had lost his Left arm" Tommen points out.

"I Bet the terrorists didn’t know that" Jaime says bitterly and the scold comes back to Brienne face.

"Jaime!"

"Uncle Jaime, that's rude" Myrcella tells him and it's like young Cersei is back again, telling him off from jumping the cliffs back home.

"'m sorry, Tommy. Look I'll make it up to you, I swear. I'll buy you a cat!" it seems like the perfect present, but the pout is just getting replaced by confusion.

"we don’t buy pets, Uncle Jaime. We can get one from the shelter" he says it so seriously and Jaime feel a swell of pride. They never used to have pets as kids, but his mother volunteered in animal and wildlife organizations and her fund still supported some.

"sure thing. Once I'll get my own place" he gets displeasing sounds from both Brienne and Tyrion, but he ignores them. "Once I get my own place we can go to the shelter and get a cat, even two. Alright? That’s a Lannister word, you know we always pay our debts."

"we do?"

"didn’t your mother tell you that? You are a Lannister- your word is everything" he frowns.

"But I'm a Baratheon, Uncle Jaime." And isn't that the ugly truth?

"That’s right, you are" he can't get the bitterness out of his voice, those damned pills.

"I think Uncle Jaime is tired, kids" Tyrion says, trying to minimize the damage.

"We missed you. Get well soon" Myrcella says and kisses him on his cheek. Tommen hugs him, sprawling all over his body but is gone just as quickly.

"Goodbye, Uncle Jaime!" they say as they are shepherded out by Tyrion.

"So that’s my nephews" he says as he stares at those beautiful blue orbs.

"They seem very sweet" Brienne tells him with a smile.

"Not thanks to their family" he says bitter again. It's a wonder they both came out as amazing as they were, with both absent parents to nature them to the best version of themselves. Tyrion tries to help, and Jaime is there when ~~he's allowed~~ he's here but most of the time they spend their time with the maids and tutors after school. Maybe the lack of Lannisters in their life is what makes them better human beings than the rest of the family.

"Did you just tell them we were _friends_?" he asks suddenly.

"Yes, Jaime. It happened eight minutes ago. Are you okay? Maybe the dose is too much" she looks at the IV bag and then to the door, maybe a nurse should take him off the meds.

"No! don’t leave. Did we… didn’t we talk?" he looks at her confused, holding her hand for dear life, not wanting her to leave, not now.

"We did."

"I just thought… I told you I loved you. _You_ told me you love me."

"Jaime…"

"I don’t want to be friends." He says quietly. Of course she doesn't want to peruse a relationship with him, who would want an old cripple.

"We never put ourselves under a label and I didn’t think the right time to open up our relationship status was in front of your ten years old nephews."

"Myrcella is twelve."

"You are actually a five-year-old" she rolls her eyes.

"I want an _us._ I know currently I'm a crippled veteran-"

"Nobody discharged you, Jaime" she interrupts him but he chooses to ignore her. "-and when you come to think of it, a homeless. But I love you Brienne, I want _this_ more than anything. I told myself that if I got back I'll tell you. You know how I feel, you know what I want. What do _you_ want?"

"I want to have this conversation when you are out of a hospital bed without drugs in your system."

"You don’t believe me" he says and looks away from her, staring at the window. "Is that so hard for you to imagine a future with me?"

"Jaime, I love you, I do. But you need to stop for a second." She turns his head gently, so he is facing her again. "You just got back from three months of captivity, you suffered an unimaginable trauma that changed your life and foreseeable future. I don’t want you to make rash decisions."

"I wanted you ever since you beat the shit out of me in Krav Maga" he stares at her, eyes locked on hers. 

"Jaime."

"I've loved you since we shared a rooftop all night in that shithole. The only reason I haven’t come forward yet was because I was a coward, I was too afraid to tell you that because I didn’t want you to reject me. The only thing good coming out of this" he is waving at his stump again "is the fact that I got back to tell you that I want to be with you for the rest of my life."

"Please don’t propose" she says in a small voice, staring at her shoes. He huffs in annoyance and grabs her hand, making her look at him again.

"You are not some contingency plan now that I'm not pretty, you are not a consolation prize. You are who I want, who I wanted for a long time and who I'll always want. I'm not asking you to marry me Brienne. I'm telling you, that if you want me- I'm yours."

She kisses him then, a soft peck on his lips, just to reassure him she isn’t rejecting him or his feeling towards her. "I'm not saying no, Jaime. I'm just saying we need to revisit this conversation once you are out of here." She kisses him again to prevent him from replaying. He leans forward to continue the kiss when she pulls away only to winch when his body hits the rail. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Come back" he tells her, wishing he had his right hand so he could hold her close to him. His left hand useless in her hand.

**

"Jaime."

"Father" Jaime is glad that early in the morning one of the nurses allowed him to move to sitting position. He is always at disadvantage with his father, at least he will be able to do it from a better position. Brienne left last night after he promised he will be good. He now longed for her, even though he wanted her to leave to take care of herself.

"I'm glad to see you are awake." he doesn’t know what to answer to that statement, so he just nods. Tywin doesn’t look uncomfortable and Jaime is annoyed. He should be, standing at his disowned son's hospital room. He needs Brienne or at least higher dose of the painkillers for this conversation.

"Has anyone from your unit came to debrief you yet?"

"They talked to me somewhere between the haze, probably will need to do it again once I'm more stable."

"You said on live television that I didn’t care about you, that I wouldn’t do anything for you." He can give it to his father, the man doesn’t waste time on small talk. Plunges straight trough.

"Are here to berate me for the company losing stock value? If I knew I'll have the best rating spot I'd be sure to tell people to invest in Casterly stock." Jaime didn’t know at the time he was filmed live, but he didn’t regret anything he said. His father doesn’t seem to like his joke, no news there.

"I'm sorry that you feel that way." Jaime laughs, small and bitter.

"You are not capable of feeling sorry, father. Everybody thinks it's just a front, a strong headed business man, but we know the truth, Cersei, Tyrion and I. We know you couldn’t care less about any of us once we didn’t live up to your expectations. If you can't mold us into the perfect heirs, we are nothing. Cersei tried so hard to be your perfect daughter until she realized there is just no satisfying you. Tyrion is the only one who still tries, and you can't even look at him."

"Jaime-"

"No, _you_ told me that if I find myself in a sticky situation you wouldn’t lift a finger, that I'm to deal with the consequences of my own actions. And you never looked back, and neither did I."

"You were meant for greater things than to shoot guns and get blown up in the process." He doesn’t need to say 'and look where it got you', him staring at the stump was enough. That’s the Tywin he knows, ruthless, going straight for the throat.

"I'm a long way from the kid you set down on your lap and forced to read every day. I can't be the perfect child you want me to be. Couldn’t then and I won't now."

He was upset for years his father wouldn’t let him get diagnosed, telling him that the problem was _him_ quitting, not accepting his poor explanation that the letters just kept moving. Tywin never accepted excuses.

"He only does that because he cares" Aunt Genna told him after she found him crying at his room, trying to figure out what was _wrong_ with him. But Jaime knew even then that caring is not force fixing an imperfection, it's accepting it. He longed for his mother so much back then, for her to hug him and tell him it will be okay, that he is perfect even if he isn’t what Tywin wanted him to be. Some dark part of him thinks that’s why he looked for warmth in Cersei.

"You can spare us both this endless talk about me wasting away in the system, father. Why are you here?"

"I wanted to see that you are well."

"As well as I can be."

"I reached out to a prosthetic specialist, he will come here once the doctors approve."

"The Army doctor said they will start the process once I'll start recovering, they will foot the bill with their own engineer."

"You need better than what they will give you, and I intend to give you the best."

"I don’t need you buying me a hand so you'll feel better about yourself, or to make good PR for the company."

"Can you once in your life accept a peace offering when it is given to you?" Tywin raised his voice and old habits kick in, Jaime lowers his gaze and stare at his hand.

"I don’t have to, I want to. You are my son, you deserve the best doctors in the country making sure you get back to civilian life as smoothly as it gets." And here is the punchline.

"I'm not going out." It's a lie, they will probably hand him the purple heart and discharge papers, but he will never admit his known faith to his father.

"Then making sure you will get back to your daily routine. I want you to have this."

"I think you mistake me for your not disowned son. He is shorter, also has two hands." His father is as close as he can come to rolling his eyes, looking sternly at him.

"You don’t want my money, fine. But don’t punish _yourself_ just to get back at me."

The door opens suddenly, and Brienne in full uniform stands at the door, surprise written on her face that there is someone else in the room. It feels like all the venom in the room left once she arrived, and Jaime is so grateful. His knight. The sunset lights coming from the room makes her eyes lighter, her hair softer.

"I'm sorry, I didn’t think someone was here" Brienne says, but unlike the visit from Tommen and Myrcella she doesn’t try to excuse herself. His smart wench.

"Corporal Tarth, that is my father, Tywin Lannister. Father, that is Corporal Tarth. She was on the assault team that rescued me" Jaime falls back to formalities.

"Sir, I'm sorry for barging in" she says but doesn’t move forward to shake his hand, she moves slowly to Jaime's left side of the bed, the opposite of his father. Jaime can't help it, he stares at her in awe, his savior once again. When he does look back at his father there is a strange look in his eyes.

"It's alright. I'll take my leave. Jaime, think about my proposal." Tywin leaves and Brienne sits down, taking her place near his left side.

"I thought you said your father cut all ties with you."

"I thought you said you are going back to base to freshen up." She looked like pristine in her uniform, how can a person look this good in fatigue.

"Actually, I had a meeting with Tarly."

"What did the old turd want?" and why she didn’t tell him about it before. He knew Tarly, he was Marines Captain, old school, with firm face and less humor than hairs on his head, and the man was bold. 

"He said that because of the media and the drama around your rescue, I'm short-listed to Officer school."

"Brienne that’s huge!" if he could jump out of bed he would. He would lift her up and hug her close to his chest and kiss her until they'd lose their breath.

"I don’t know Jaime, it feels like it's only because it was a high-profile case the higher ups know my name now."

"Listen to me, you stubborn woman. Tarly didn’t want you to get promoted because he is a mesogenic asshole, not because you are not capable. Hell you are the most capable person I've met in the last ten years to deserve promotion!"

"They want me to leave next week." That silence his excitement. Jaime hoped she'll stay with him in whatever place he would rent during his rehabilitation.

"Good, that's good" he says at last.

"I thought… we could figure things out while I'm still state side. Maybe stay together during your recovery." She is nervous, and Jaime knows he won't be the man who stands between her and her dream.

"I don’t need help, Brienne. Look at me, sitting up already. Talked to the nurse, she told me if I'm good she'll let me go to the bathroom myself" he tries to lighten the mood. She doesn’t seem convinced.

"I've got Tyrion, and Arthur, and the staff. I'll be alright. I'm not going to be the one to hold you back from your dream. It's only a few weeks, I'll still be an invalid when you get your rank."

"Stop calling yourself an invalid."

"I'll even pinky promise it if it would mean you'll take the offer." That makes the frown disappear.

"If I'm accepting it would mean a lot of paperwork-"

"great, it's your favorite thing to do!" he cuts her.

"-and it would mean I'll have to leave sooner to finish all of my duties."

"How sooner?" that doesn’t sound good.

"Tomorrow." He feels a sudden pressure on his chest. They won't have the week to say goodbye?

"The sooner you'll leave the faster you'll return. Is that a saying? I think it is one." She recognizes his nervousness and holds good hand with one of hers, the other caressing the back of his neck.

"Come on" he says suddenly and start wiggling. "What are you doing?"

"Making room for you."

"Jaime, it's not-"

"I don’t care. You leave tomorrow, I'll have to wait _weeks_ before I can get you into my bed properly. This will have to do."

"What if someone will get in?" he knows he got her then. Now its only a question of time until she relents.

"Who cares" he moves until he is at the farthest spot the bed will allow. She looks at the empty spot and then at the door.

"Is this really the first time you want us to sleep next to each other?"

"No time like the present."

"Jaime."

"I don’t care if our first time sleeping next to each other would be in a barn or in the woods, or in that fucking cell you rescued me from. Don’t denay the chance to wake up to the sight of your eyes first thing in the morning." He is pleased when he can see her finally crack. That’s good because he's now out of ideas to convince her.

"Only if it won't aggravate your injuries."

"You would never." She climbs slowly into the bed, trying to make herself smaller. Jaime laughs.

"Brienne, we are not in sixth grade, come here" he says and leans on her shoulder. She immediately puts both her arms around him, one automatically goes through his hair.

"Goodnight wench" he nestles on her chest and closes his eyes.

"Goodnight Jaime."

In the morning with one final kiss she leaves him, and Jaime is alone again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter will talk more about Jaime struggles with everything, now that Brienne is gone.  
> Cersei, Arthur, Tyrion and a few guest appearances.


End file.
